Everyone who's using an Earth Drive (or other pedal) on all the time to "provide grit/warm up the tone," where do you place your Earth Drive: at the beginning of your effect chain; in the middle; at the end?"

Hey Jon, I've tried it different places and I can say with certainty that when being used as a "clean boost" my earth drive sounds best last in the chain before the pre and outside the effects loop, since I use it primarily as an "always on" pedal it's always there. So with the loop off it's guitar>earth drive>amp and with the loop on it's there at the end of the line as well. I know it's intended purpose when used like this is to enhance your lower volume tone, but I like what it does even at higher volumes. I've gotten so used to it being there and on, that when I shut it off it sounds like something is missing, regardless of how loud I'm playing. I also think it enhances the sound of most effects when engaged. Especially the dist+. I guess it's just become part of my tone to the point where I wish its circuit was built right into the pre. Since you and I have essentially the same rig(s) other than effects and guitar I think you'll like it like this. I feel it's truly one of Brad's greatest inventions and one of my favorite, most useful pedals. I run it that way with the SMS, the FYD, my tapped DSR and even in front of my DRRI. The only exception is with the blues master, because that little sucker has a pretty hot signal on its own and doesn't need any boosting. It achieves similar results alone with the same tone stack and gain settings. Things get a little too hot with the ED on. Give it a shot and see what you think. I hope my long winded response helps.

EDIT P.S. OK, just did some end-of-chain, post-OBEL, before preamp experiments with my Reverend Drivetrain. Experiment failed (or should I say, produced negative results - ruling something out empirically is never truly a failure). Sounded awful there for Jerry tones. Even with the volume on the pedal dimed and the gain way down (set to just above unity), the treble dimed, and the bass off, the pedal retained that classic Tubescreamer mids signature that is not what I'm seeking now. So back in the effects bin for the Drivetrain.

However, I did have some surprisingly good results with another experiement. I typically leave the gain on both my SMS and Fyd pre's at around 5. I'd fooled around when I first got them with different settings but once I settled on around 5, that parameter has remained for the most part steady. It wouldn't normally occur to me to boost the gain up to 7-8 because who in his right mind (except maybe Hendrix in the studio) would run a Twin Reverb at 8? But I tried it and I must say, I really liked what it did to my gain and tone. Adds a tad more grit/edge to the sound without morphing its basic overall character. I'm going to leave it this way for band practice tomorrow and see if I continue to like it at full band volume. In the interim, if anyone else would like to experiment with this and add your reactions to the thread, please do.

I was under the impression that Jerry ran his Twin at very high volume on LiveDead e.g. (when there was basically only fuzz pedals and tape echo's). I read that as a quote from someone who was around, and even with humbuckers it would be tough to get all the heavy tones he accomplishes straight into a Twin at moderate volume I'd imagine.
Generally the larger world don't think passionate 20 yr. old rock guitarists are in their right mind though, and then there's indulgences so, I guess your statement would be accurate in the end regardless.

Jon S. wrote:
However, I did have some surprisingly good results with another experiement. I typically leave the gain on both my SMS and Fyd pre's at around 5. I'd fooled around when I first got them with different settings but once I settled on around 5, that parameter has remained for the most part steady. It wouldn't normally occur to me to boost the gain up to 7-8 because who in his right mind (except maybe Hendrix in the studio) would run a Twin Reverb at 8? But I tried it and I must say, I really liked what it did to my gain and tone. Adds a tad more grit/edge to the sound without morphing its basic overall character. I'm going to leave it this way for band practice tomorrow and see if I continue to like it at full band volume. In the interim, if anyone else would like to experiment with this and add your reactions to the thread, please do.

Interesting... I may have to try driving the SMS pre hotter (I usually am at 10-11 o'clock) and turn down the mc50. For some reason I thought I'd be better off with the mac running hotter - so I never bothered to try.

Jon S. wrote:
However, I did have some surprisingly good results with another experiement. I typically leave the gain on both my SMS and Fyd pre's at around 5. I'd fooled around when I first got them with different settings but once I settled on around 5, that parameter has remained for the most part steady. It wouldn't normally occur to me to boost the gain up to 7-8 because who in his right mind (except maybe Hendrix in the studio) would run a Twin Reverb at 8? But I tried it and I must say, I really liked what it did to my gain and tone. Adds a tad more grit/edge to the sound without morphing its basic overall character. I'm going to leave it this way for band practice tomorrow and see if I continue to like it at full band volume. In the interim, if anyone else would like to experiment with this and add your reactions to the thread, please do.

Interesting... I may have to try driving the SMS pre hotter (I usually am at 10-11 o'clock) and turn down the mc50. For some reason I thought I'd be better off with the mac running hotter - so I never bothered to try.

I was somewhere w/o any OD or distortion and cranked my SMS up almost all the way and it had a real nice grit to it. I probably turn the drive up on my ED higher than most and use to to get a decent low OD, I use about 4 stages of overdrive - ED alone, T-Rex Dr Swamp lower drive channel, T-Rex+ED, and the high drive channel of the T-Rex.

Going a tad bit off topic, the Awesome SMS Classic's Power Transformer is no where near as robust as the one used in an actual Twin Reverb. It's iron does account for some added beef in the form of volume when you a/b a Twin Reverb versus an SMS Classic. If Jerry ran his twin at just under halfway, the Classic would be at around 1:30 no more then 2:30 to equate. Then run the Mcintosh to about 10:30-11 o'clock, then adjust the guitar volume for the room and dynamics. This should have any OD thrown at it singing.

~waldo

Disclaimer: I get paid to make, modify or build things for those that seek what i may be able to provide.

Back to report that I was able to borrow a friend's Earth Drive and put it through its paces. For a post effects loop clean boost, upon A-Bing it with my Fulltone Fat Boost 1 (Jack Orman mini-booster circuit), I preferred the Fat Boost. As an overdrive pedal first in line in the OBEL, I liked it but also like what I'm already using so I passed on copping one now.